Woman Who Brutally Attacked Man On Red Line Apologizes

BOSTON (CBS) – The woman who brutally attacked a man on a Red Line train is telling her side of the story. She says she is sorry for what happened as another passenger recorded the relentless beating on a cell phone.

Her name is Melissa Cote and she says there’s a lot more to what happened Thursday night than what was shown on that video. She wanted to come forward not only to apologize but also to set the record straight.

“It’s horrible and I do feel sorry,” she says, for furiously punching the passenger, stopping only when someone stepped in.

Melissa Cote apologized for attacking a man on the Red Line.

But Melissa says the camera started rolling after another confrontation with the victim, “He touched my leg… and I told him a few select words.” She says it’s what he did next that really set her off, “He started shoving my dog that was laying there not doing anything with her muzzle on. Just because I told him to stop touching me he got so upset that he had to take his male aggression out on my dog?”

In the video, Melissa can be heard referring to that shoving, repeatedly asking the victim, “you put your shoe on my dog?”

Now she says she knows she was wrong but admits she was drunk and lost control. She says her life has been tough these days, “My house got condemned I became recently homeless, I haven’t been working.”

Unfortunately for Cote, that isn’t quelling strangers’ strong reaction to the beating. One woman interrupted our interview to share her feelings, “Anybody who hits someone else the way you did is a bad person. You need to learn to control yourself.”

Melissa says she is ready to move past the incident and would like to personally apologize to the victim, “Hopefully I can eventually meet this guy and give him a hug and a big, fat, wet kiss on the cheek and say sorry.”

Transit Police questioned Melissa and will charge her with assault and battery and disorderly conduct. The victim has changed his mind and will press charges now.

Apart from the obviously primary importance of the reporting of this serious incident, I’d like to ask who wrote this story? Why are there so many grammar mistakes, for an article on the Website of a major local Boston TV station like WBZ? Unbelievable.

You Graduated from Harvard Or some god forsaken place we never heard of! TYPO”s HAPPEN-fact of life! Woman’s act was way outrageous, Something pushed her over the line! We just watched on tv or UTube (wrong)! The guy should be arrested for trying to instiagate a riot! How many hits on Utube! Wrong-wrong wrong! Laws need to catch up with society! They both will have their day in court!

No, typos don’t happen! If you are paying attention and doing your job correctly that is. The person that wrote this obviously sucks at their job. They write for a living! Are you kidding me?

As for the woman: “Now she says she knows she was wrong but admits she was drunk and lost control.” NO EXCUSE! BE RESPONSIBLE! Everyone thinks they are a freakin’ victim of something and never take responsibility.

the punk chick is 100% in the wrong, it’s not even debatable. she’s lucky the guy didn’t lay her out. if i saw some beast like that coming towards me on the T, i wouldn’t think twice about one-punching her.

I completely agree. It looks like it was written at a 8th grade level. Split infinitives, sloppy sentence construction, extremely limited vocabulary (i.e. “she says, she says, she says, she says”. these aren’t typos but the markings of someone who doesn’t write very well. Damn CBS, start paying your interns.

Tell you what…apply for a job and be sure to send your writing samples, since your writing is clearly so much better. Hopefully your resume’ doesn’t include that awkwardly-worded first sentence. “Apart from the obviously primary importance of the reporting of this serious incident”…could you sound any more pretentious?

“Unfortunately that isn’t quelling strangers’ strong reaction to the beating.”
“Unfortunately”?
Aren’t journalists supposed to keep their personal feelings out of the news they report? Perhaps rethink using the word “unfortunately” in your stories. Otherwise, what makes 4 any different than 7, minus the alliteration?
Experience is hard-earned. I can’t remember the last time I heard any of the seasoned WBZ reporters/correspondents use the word “unfortunately” in one of their reports.

so your claiming that he was touching you inappropriately and then hit your dog and now you want to give him a big fat wet kiss? Sounds like a bunch of BS to me and you just want to save your sorry ass form all the negative attention. Also since your homeless maybe you should spend your money on dog food and finding a place to live rather than out getting drunk

Haha that Titanic line is gold and couldn’t be more true. Just because the scumbag attacker was a woman femmenazi feels obligated to defend her. In her warped world view women can do no wrong and every problem with society is entirely the fault of men. Regardless of the reason the victim pressed charges, this woman deserves to be punished. The ironic thing is that the historically influential women’s rights proponents would be ashamed by the neo-feminist agenda. The fact that women are equal for all practical purposes these days is not enough–they now demand superiority (which in many instances they have i.e. child support without choice or proof of paternity, the status quo of the woman taking the house and the kids, etc…) Disgusting.

NOW, IF EVERY MAN COULD JUST GO TO COURT AND SAY, ‘SHUCKS, YOUR HONOR, I WAS JUST DRUNK, THAT’S ALL! AND NOW I’LL JUST GO TELL THE VICTIM I’M SORRY, OK?’, THE COMMONWEALTH WOULD HAVE EMPTY PRISONS, LAWYERS WOULD BE PANHANDLING ON COMM AVE AND MASSACHUSETTS WOULD HAVE ABOUT A BILLION EXTRA BUCKS TO SPEND ON EDUCATING THEIR KIDS, SO THEY WOULDN’T GROW UP AND END UP LIKE THIS ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK LOOKING CLOWN. LAY OFF THE DORITOS, LADY

If she’s homeless, has and substance abuse issue, and obviously is a violent drunk. I really feel she needs to be held accountable for her assaultive behavior. Also, the health and condition of her dog should be examined! Should someone that irresponsible and sick (alcoholism is a disease) have a dog !? That angers me as much as her whacking that guy. At least he had the option of swinging back. Just sayin’.

Swinging Back? Yeah, then SHE would sue his ass….So help me understand this, here is a girl that is out of work, homeless, a drinker, and what that gives her the right to beat the crap outta someone. Like it is everyone’s elses fault. She’s the victim….WOW…

I respectfully disagree. Just with eye witnesses alone he could have either pushed her down or probably even got one good shot to the nose and not have been charged. She was drunk and with even a single witness attesting to him getting attacked by the woman the police would most likely take that into consideration. If they didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt and charged him for assault the DA would then look into it and with the video surfacing most definitely drop any charges.

The problem with the guy protecting himself in any way he opens himself up to more issues. He could try and subdue her and she would probably scream victim all of a sudden and undoubtedly bite him. If he chose to punch her square in the nose it might get her to back down but once again I can see her screaming victim and the how can you hit a woman speech she would surely be singing. As funny as it sounds he did the right thing.

The DB filming the altercation on his phone who got a good laugh out of it would probably be the first dumb ass telling him how it isn’t cool to hit her or subdue her. I wish the last thing that guy filmed was the victims fist coming through the phone at him. Getting beat on is bad enough, but having some sissy standing there having the time of his life while filming it would upset me as much if not more than the initial attack.

Go figure, HOMELESS & OUT OF WORK. REALLYYY and she has a dog, hopped on the T and was drunk. Gee maybe she is looking for some kind of sympathy. NOT BUYING IT, She wants to give him a big wet kiss. Seems like she is trying to avoid charges, Seems both should be charged with disorderly conduct, Where is she living, and with a dog no less, How could she afford the MBTA, it cost a few bucks just one way , How can she afford booze, Wait, HHHMMMM have to wonder about that. And I did not think the MBTA allowed animals on the trains, unless they were aid dogs, YUP another fine citizen of Boston, Our youth of AMERICA , homeless, drunk & out of control. How wonderful.

All that she has to claim is that “He touched my leg” and “my life has been tough these days” and she is excused any violent behavior? Now she wants to give this guy “a big fat wet kiss”?

This is another flagrant example of men being treated like second-class citizens by a society with little to no female accountability. It is a guarantee that she will serve a lighter sentence than a man would if he had hit someone (especially a woman) in the same manner.

When are women going to grow up and demand that other women take full accountability for their actions? Female violence towards men has become off-hand, commonplace, and casually excused on a regular basis. You should all be ashamed of yourselves at the example you are setting for our youth through your complacency, blatant disregard, and in fact encouragement of gendered violence towards men.

The only reason she is apoligizing now is she knows it was all taped. If it wasn’t, that guy would have been arrested and she would have been ‘defending herself’. If a man did what she did and then wanted to kiss his victim and make it all better, he would be in jail.

You have great points until your last paragraph. “When are women going to grow up?” The real question is when are YOU going to grow up and realize that it is unfair to paint about half of the human population one thing? I (as a woman) do not accept her behavior whatsoever. I think what she did was deplorable, but for you to cry sexism followed by an immediate insult to ALL women makes you sound not very credible. Furthermore, saying that “you should all be ashamed of yourselves” is downright inflammatory. That’s like me saying all men should be ashamed of themselves for your idiotic and ignorant statement. No… only YOU should be ashamed of yourself.

The fact that you “don’t accept it” doesn’t mean anything if the only place you are willing to express that sentiment is online. Unless you are vocalizing your disapproval publicly encouraging other women to think likewise and voting for much needed changes in a judicial system that is so heavily skewed in favor of women, then you are just another Good German. You amount to nothing more than a sheep whispering that she can see the writing on the wall. You are complacent in the subjugation of men in our society and you demonstrate that complacency through your inaction. .

Furthermore, can you honestly say that you wholeheartedly believe women should serve equally harsh sentences as men for similar crimes? Can you honestly say that equal governement funding should be appropriated to running battered men’s shelters? Can you honestly say that VAWA should be repealed and that in cases of domestic assault women should be considered just as guilty as men and should be forcibly evicted fully 50% of the time? Can you honestly say that when you see a woman hitting a man you feel the same rage as when you see a man hitting a woman?

I don’t think you can honestly say any of those things. It is you who are ignorant and an idiot to boot, ma’am. Don’t bother to express your “disapproval,” we don’t need your half-hearted support.

If this was a drunk man hitting a woman on a train several things would be different. First, someone would have stopped him from threatening her. He would have been stopped from leaving. Most relevant to this article, he would never have been allowed to get his excuses into a video or newspaper article. I am so disgusted in this author’s victim blaming.

Looks like she hasn’t missed many meals even though she claims hard times are upon her! I see way too much of this kind of person representing our youth today. We can only hope for every Melissa there is a quality young person to offset all these piercing/tattoo types who show no responsibility, can’t hold jobs, look like freaks etc.

How dare you! You want to pass judgement on her for her actions go right ahead. But to sit there and so openly announce your bigotry…. How can you make a statement like this? So every person that has piercings or tattoos don’t have any responsibilities, can’t hold a job, look like a “freak”…. You make statements like this and the people with tattoos and piercings are the problem? I don’t anymore, but at one time had a piercing, and I have tattoos. Yet I have a great job that pays me over a $100K/year, I also have a wife and a baby at home which I provide for and take care of. Don’t make statements like this again, it only shows your ignorance.

No. He said “all these piercing/tattoo types who show no responsibility, can’t hold jobs, look like freaks etc.” are the problem, not “all those piercing types” are the problem.

If he said, “all those women who beat on men without reason”, would you read it as simply “all women”?

“A” piercing and tattoos? It doesn’t sound like you (or crostitcher, who seems equally outraged what with the personal anecdote and admission to having only “a” piercing) are the “piercing/tattoo type” he’s talking about.

As for your personal anecdote, that is like me saying, “I drink and drive all the time and never had a problem, thereby proving that drinking and driving isn’t as harmful as people say.”

Your comment is very offensive. I have tattoos and a piercing. I work 40+ hours a week, we keep a clean house and observe the laws. My husband and I raised 3 kids. David Ettlinger pics do not show any piercings or tattoos, but he is a child preditor. Is this your “picture” of a quality person.

If someone stepped on my dog on purpose I would have punched his face in too. but what I dont get is that you are homeless have no job no money, and you have a dog to feed. Why are you getting drunk or how are you getting drunk with no money. Your priorities are all wrong.

If someone stepped on my dog on purpose I would have a big problem. But I don’t want to assume it was on purpose. If I heard it correctly on the video it was an accident. The woman said in the interview it was on purpose but I call BS.

Your are spot on though about her having tough times but not tough enough to cramp the partying.

If she has no job, and no place to live why is she out drinking? Isn’t that money that could be used to put a roof over her head? Also, she says she wants to meet this guy so she can hug him and kiss him???? I thought this whole incident started because he was “touching her”? If this guy is the type to touch people in a manner which makes them uncomfortable, why would she want to meet him to apologize, hug him, and kiss him? She sounds to me like someone who can’t control herself, her temper, or her booze. Get a life, get a job, and stop making excuses for your actions.

spare me the sob story melissa – you made poor choices that put you in your current living situation. you have 2 choices do the right thing or suffer the consequences for doing the wrong thing. i don’t believe your story – you don’t go and sit down next to someone who allegedly accosted you, then complain he shoved your dog and commit a&b. instead of using your fists you could’ve walked away or used your voice to ask for help. by failing to act like a reasonable adult woman you willlfully continued to put yourself and dog in harms way. your reaction to the woman who confronted you and smiling while apologing to the victim shows your insincereity and lack of moral character. what’s your excuse this time being sober ?

What Melissa did was definately wrong, but shes not that bad of a person and for everyone to sit there calling her a junkie and a drunk is just wrong you dont know what shes going thru either. I agree that she should definately face charges and be held accountable for her actions and i also thing she should be court ordered to anger mannagement classes, but shes really not that bad of a person. She is a young girl whos life just totally collapsed around her. Her apartment building was condemed that she lived n and right around the same time she was let go of from her job she has no support system for help and is trying to make it on her own. I dont know her very well but i do kno her a bit and know that she is genuinely a good person on the up and up and is not usually prone to violence. This video and situation has actually been very supprising to everyone around her who knows her well. I do feel terrible for the man who she assult and agree 110% that he should press the charges because no one deserves to be treated the way that he was treated but at the same time people need to remember she is human too and lost control and made a mistake that does not make a horrible evil monster that everyone is making her out to be.

His apartment building was just condemned and he was just let go from his job. He has no support system and is usually not prone to violence. He lost control and severely beat a woman over the head many times for touching his leg. But he’s a human being who just made a mistake.

Last month when WBZ posted 2 girls fighting and all these kids getting suspended, a lot of people commented that everyone who was watching the fight should get in trouble…hmmm..different now that it’s on a train? What do some of the posters think now..should everyone on the train be in trouble for not stepping in?

You know as well as I do that if any guy had put a hand on her that the poor good samaritan would now be facing sexual assault charges. Women in this country are given free reign to abuse the legal system and a man is considered guilty by mere accusation. And why would a woman step in to help a man?

all those people showed up strictly for that fight. They weren’t just random people that happened to be passing by and got caught in the middle of something. Each and everyone of those kids showed up for the single purpose of seeing those two girls fight and to egg them on. Do not try and compare it to this, the two cases are completely different. Its the old comparing apples and oranges. this case was random people who had no idea when getting on that train what they were going to see or witness and the people on the train actually did step in and stopped her once she did something illegal and struck the man. So nice lame attempt at trying to compare it to the girls fighting and trying to get others in trouble

Oh Pahleeez,
Giving Cote a kiss, hug, BJ is not going to fix things, okay.
You are evil. “oh he touched my leg” You are on public transportation.
People bump into each other.
And as far as your dog, keep him off the train, Queen Beeeatch

What a sorry excuse for a human being. Melissa, you need to do some soul searching and take a long look in the mirror. Once you sober up that is. It is disheartening to read all the excuses above. I know many individuals that have come upon hard times of late. None of them behave as you do. Another thing…I agree on is that your welfare $$ could be better spent (although it appears that you don’t miss many meals). Happy to hear that the victim has decided to press charges. Might be an avenue for you to straighten yourself up. You definitely need help!

It’s amazing to see how everybody jumps all over this woman. First how does anybody know what the guy did. Maybe he did try to rub her leg, and since the train wasn’t crowded it would have been on purpose. Also what right did he have touching her dog. Seems to me he new she had a buzz on and was being mister funny, just trying to start something. And whose to say she bought the alcohol, could someone have been drinking with her, and how about someone bought the ticket for the T. And it’s nice to hear how compassionate everyone is, shoot how about we just string her up now for loosing it. Was she wrong in what she did, probably. Is the guy mister innocent, doubt it. I guess it makes people feel better about themselves when they can bash someone who is down on life. Though even when drunk she stood up for her dog. And dogs should be allowed on the trains. Shoot there are enough freaks riding the T, so why not dogs.

So its not ok to bash people who are down on their luck but its ok if they’re not because in the first half of your argument you condemn the man and blame him for what happened. You are just as bad as everyone else on here you complain about when you make assumptions and try to imagine what happened like you were on the train. Oh it wasn’t crowded he must have done it on purpose… she had an OBVIOUS buzz he should have known better… what do people have signs on them now that indicate when they are buzzed or drunk and your not supposed to interact with them? Get off your high horse People are jumping all over this woman because there is proof that she ASSAULTED another human being, then admitted she did it and now is trying to backtrack her way out of troubl

This is victim blaming. Imagine the situation were reversed and you were replying to a video of a man beating a woman for no apparent reason, with her apologising halfway through, and you thought that maybe she deserved it. It is akin to those people who bring a woman’s attire into question when she is raped; victim blaming is bad.

I don’t believe in violence but if someone attacked me like that, I’m defending myself by incapacitating their ability to continue attacking me (I’m knocking them out)…regardless of what set of genitals they have between their legs.

xy is right on with the comments. men are treated this way in popular culture (watching tv these days makes me wince so I don’t) and obviously it is a problem. Most men are gentlemen and we are troubled by men who do acts of violence, child rape and the way they act. I hope women (not femmnazi) feel that this woman is not right with her actions and have a bit more empathy towards the real victim in this case.

Give her a break! She’s going through a rough patch in life! I’m sure she’s just an innocent victim of circumstance! We should all rally around this fine woman who has just had a tough time. After all, don’t we all physically batter strangers for sport when we are drunk and have had a hard time?

Good for her! She wants to make amends with that jerk who she claims touched her dog! Melissa was only defending that poor defenseless animal who was wearing a muzzle.

Hopefully, Melissa will just get probation (I’m sure this is her first criminal offense), and be able to pick herself up by the bootstraps, put on some eyeliner, a nice outfit, brush her hair and get herself back on the road to success! I’m sure that she’ll make Boston proud!

Here’s a thought ,, One how can the MBTA Charge her, How is she to pay for her fee’s and fines, (2) The guy now wants to press charges,, hmmm same thing,,, the only thing this GIRL can do is serve time in jail…. HEY WAIT,, NO WAY…. THAT MEANS THE PEOPLE OF THE COMMONWEALTH WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR HER ROOF OVER HER HEAD, 3 SQUARE MEALS, CLOTHES, PERSONAL ITEMS, THEN THERE IS THE BOARDING FEE’S FOR THE MUTT, THE FOOD TO FEED IT, AND ANY VET BILLS SINCE IT COULD NEED SHOTS……..
Wheres the guy that wants to sue the judge,,,,,,, here’s your argument…. She is taking up valuable space in the courts and jail and wasting our tax $$$$$$$$$$’s. I would make her work off her fines, fee’s and use it to teach her a lesson.. NO weeks worth of stuff no doing weekends,,, try a months worth of punishment…… scrub the platform floors at every station, scrape off all the gum under every seat on every train. wash every window on every train, All by wearing a sign saying.. I am a drunk and can not hold my temper and beat people up because I have no control with BOOZE…
JUDGES need to stop wasting our money and time with these kinds of cases,,,,,she is not worth the court space.

I so agree, I just feel its such a waste of tax payers dollars since she can not pay restitution for her self, Therefore it will fall on the people of the commonwealth to roll over the money for her debt to society. She will get a slap on the wrist and walk away all while gaining something from this ordeal.. How sad is that….

People what is the story about? Certainly it isn’t about the writers. Why don’t you stick to the story instead of critizing….Your not much better than what the
story is about….You got the point did you not? HELLO

So being a homeless drunk on the T with a dog gives you the right to attack someone? So sick of people who’s hard luck stories are used as an excuse for being a common criminal.

There are alot of people out there with harder luck stories that are good, law-abiding citizens.

You can clearly see she was laughing in the video. On the video there is no suggestion she was touched in any way inappropriately. But in the interview she says she was touched. And look at her response to the woman who called her out on her actions. Something like “Jenny Craig called” or was it Weight Watchers. She needs them herself. She’s not exactly emmaciated.

I missed the Jenny Craig remark but if she said that she must have never heard the old saying people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. It must suck for her being homeless though. Where does she go to watch Jersey Shore?

I don’t understand why, if he had wanted to, the victim could not defend himself. Is there a law that if a man defends himself against a woman, then he is arrested or wrong? I think he should have knocked her on her ass. I would love to be on that jury!